Tongues: What Does the Bible Actually Say?

 

There has been so much debate about speaking in tongues that sometimes I think we have forgotten to simply read what Paul actually wrote. Some say every Christian should speak in tongues, while others say tongues were only for the early church and have no place today. But what happens when we set those arguments aside for a moment and simply follow Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14?

Paul clearly identifies tongues as a gift of the Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 12:10, he says that the Spirit gives to one person various kinds of tongues and to another the interpretation of tongues. So, there is no question that Paul regarded tongues as a genuine spiritual gift.

But then he asks something very important:

“Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?” 1 Corinthians 12:30

The answer is obviously no. Paul has already explained that the Spirit distributes the gifts as He wills, and not everyone receives the same gift. That undermines the teaching that every Christian must speak in tongues as evidence of having received the Holy Spirit. Paul doesn't say that. In fact, his question seems to suggest the opposite. If all believers were supposed to speak in tongues, why would Paul ask, “Do all speak with tongues?”

So, we can establish something quite simply from the text. Tongues are a gift of the Spirit, but they are not a gift given to everybody.

Then we come to 1 Corinthians 14, where the subject becomes even more interesting.

Paul says:

“For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 14:2

Then, just two verses later, he says:

“The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.” 1 Corinthians 14:4

I think we sometimes overlook that because we have already decided what we believe about tongues. Paul says the person who speaks in a tongue builds up himself. That is personal edification, and Paul doesn't present it as something bad or meaningless. He doesn't say that the person is wasting his time. He says that he is building himself up.

And that makes another statement Paul makes very interesting:

“I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.”
1 Corinthians 14:18

Why would Paul say this?

If speaking in tongues had no personal spiritual value, why would Paul thank God that he did it more than all of them?

We have already seen what Paul said. The person who speaks in a tongue builds himself up. So perhaps we should take Paul at his word. A personal strengthening was taking place, and Paul tells us that he himself spoke in tongues more than all of them. We could describe that as becoming stronger in his walk with God and better able to stand, although Paul simply says he was being built up.

But I also understand the objection that can be raised to this. Where is the fruit? If someone tells me that speaking in tongues is building them up spiritually, then surely, I should be able to see some evidence of that spiritual strengthening in the way they live. Paul himself gives us the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22–23, and that fruit cannot simply be ignored because somebody has a particular spiritual gift.

The Corinthians themselves show us why we need to make that distinction. They had spiritual gifts, including tongues, but Paul still had to correct them for their divisions, jealousy, pride and disorder. So having a gift does not automatically mean that a person is spiritually mature.

That does not mean we should reject Paul's statement that speaking in a tongue builds up the individual. It means we shouldn't confuse the gift with the fruit. Paul says the gift can build the individual, but the evidence of a life being governed by the Spirit is seen in the fruit that follows.

That is why he says:

“Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.” 1 Corinthians 14:19

Why? Because when the church comes together, other people matter. If I speak in a tongue and nobody understands what I am saying, I may be strengthened personally, but what has the person sitting next to me received? That is Paul's concern.

And this is where Paul's statement in verse 5 also needs to be understood:

“Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy.”
1 Corinthians 14:5

How can Paul say that he wants them all to speak in tongues when he has already asked, “Do all speak with tongues?”

I don't believe there is a contradiction here. Paul can express a desire that everyone might speak in tongues without saying that everyone has been given the gift. We do this ourselves in ordinary conversation. I could say that I want everyone to be able to speak another language without believing that everyone already speaks one.

Paul's greater concern in chapter 14 is what happens when the church comes together. He says that the person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in a tongue unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up. That is where we begin to see the balance in Paul's teaching. Tongues can build up the individual, while interpretation allows what is spoken to become something the church can also benefit from.

I think this is where we need to be careful with the arguments we have built around this subject. We can become so focused on whether tongues are real or whether they are for today that we miss what Paul is actually teaching about their purpose. Paul clearly regards tongues as a gift of the Spirit. He tells us that the person speaking in a tongue builds himself up, and he tells us plainly that he himself speaks in tongues. But he also makes it equally clear that not everyone speaks in tongues, and nowhere does he tell us that speaking in tongues is the evidence that proves someone has the Holy Spirit.

Another verse is often brought into the discussion.

Paul says:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” 1 Corinthians 13:1

Some use this verse to argue that there is a special heavenly language called the tongues of angels. But is Paul actually teaching that here?

Look at the way the whole passage is written. He says, “If I speak...” Then, “If I have prophetic powers...” Then, “If I understand all mysteries and all knowledge...” Then, “If I have all faith...” Then, “If I give away all I have...” and “If I deliver up my body...”

Paul is taking the argument to extremes to make one point. Even if I could do all these extraordinary things, without love I am nothing.

That is why I don't think we should take “tongues of angels” as Paul establishing a doctrine that there is an angelic language which Christians can speak. The point he makes in 1 Corinthians 13 is about love. We don't need verse 1 to establish that tongues are a gift, because Paul has already told us that in chapter 12 and then spends chapter 14 explaining how the gift is to be used.

And perhaps that is where we need to return to the simplicity of what Paul actually wrote. Tongues are a gift of the Spirit; not everyone has the same gift, and the person speaking in a tongue can be strengthened. But when the church gathers, there must also be concern for the strengthening of the whole body. That is why Paul places such importance on interpretation and on understandable speech.

It seems very different from some of the arguments we hear today. It is also very different from simply dismissing tongues altogether. Paul doesn't do either. He doesn't say everyone must speak in tongues, and he doesn't tell the church to forget about tongues.

In fact, at the end of his instructions he says:

“Do not forbid speaking in tongues.” 1 Corinthians 14:39

That seems pretty clear to me. We shouldn't forbid something that Paul himself recognised as a gift of the Spirit. But at the same time, we shouldn't make it the measure of everybody's spirituality either. Use the gifts God gives. If the gift strengthens the individual, there is a place for that. If the gift is used publicly, then Paul wants the church to be strengthened as well.

In fact, another thought comes to mind when I think about the gifts God gives us. Jesus told the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14 to 30. The master entrusted different amounts to his servants, and two of them went and used what they had been given. The third servant took what his master had entrusted to him and buried it in the ground. He was afraid and did nothing with what had been given to him, and that is the warning in the parable. What God gives us is not meant to be buried simply because we don't know what to do with it or because we are afraid of using it.

That does not mean every gift will look the same, as Paul has already made clear. Not everyone is an apostle, not everyone is a prophet, not everyone is a teacher, not everyone works miracles, and not everyone speaks in tongues. We don't all have the same gift. But if God has entrusted something to us, perhaps the question is not why we don't have someone else's gift. Perhaps the question is what we are doing with the one He has given us.

And that brings me back to tongues. Paul does not tell us that everyone must speak in tongues. He doesn't make tongues the evidence that someone has the Holy Spirit. But neither does he tell those who have the gift to bury it. After everything he has said about how tongues should be used, Paul has made his position clear. There is something very simple about that. Don't make the gift into something it isn't, but don't bury it either. Use what God has given you according to His Word, with love, with order, and with consideration for the body of Christ.

And above all of this, we have to remember what sits between Paul's teaching on the gifts in chapter 12 and his instructions concerning them in chapter 14.

Love.

That is not an accident.

We can argue about tongues until the cows come home. We can argue about whether they are for today, whether everyone should speak in tongues, what exactly Paul meant by tongues, and whether what we see happening today is the same thing Paul was describing. But Paul puts the whole discussion into perspective.

Whatever gift we have, whatever experience we have, and whatever ability God has given us, without love it amounts to nothing. The gift is important, but it is not the giver. The strengthening of the individual matters, and the strengthening of the church matters, but neither should become more important than Christ Himself.

Perhaps the question isn't simply whether we speak in tongues. Perhaps the better question is what we are doing with whatever God has given us. Are we using it to build ourselves up and, where appropriate, to build up the body of Christ? Are we allowing the gift to remain a gift, or have we turned it into a measure of spirituality?

Because Paul seems to leave us with a very simple principle. Whatever God gives us, it must never become more important than the One who gave it.

Signing off, Tyrone

Scripture References: 1 Corinthians 12:10 to 30; 1 Corinthians 13:1 to 3; 1 Corinthians 14:2 to 5; 1 Corinthians 14:18 to 19; 1 Corinthians 14:39; Galatians 5:22 to 23; Matthew 25:14 to 30